Tiny houses in Salem and beyond

Thursday

Apr 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 4, 2013 at 4:21 AM

We have been publishing occasional articles on tiny and small houses here in Salem, because Salem is one of the global birthplaces of the modern Tiny House movement. Continuing our survey of tiny house building types and trends, let us provide an overview of some of the leading moments in tiny house evolution here in Salem and in the United States.

John Goff

We have been publishing occasional articles on tiny and small houses here in Salem, because Salem is one of the global birthplaces of the modern Tiny House movement. Continuing our survey of tiny house building types and trends, let us provide an overview of some of the leading moments in tiny house evolution here in Salem and in the United States.

Long ago, tiny house construction was the norm for housing when this place was Native Naumkeag. Small one room structures (“wetuash”) of bent wood saplings covered with natural tree bark provided cozy quarters for families, with heat obtained by simple campfires.

Between 1630 and 1830, many desired tiny houses to be starter houses to anchor a settlement or a family’s claim on a land—but then to be replaced by larger houses as more land, materials and wealth became available. The tiny timber-framed thatched roofed cottages, vertical log dugout houses and English wigwams at Salem 1630: Pioneer Village in Salem’s Forest River Park represent three well-known Salem types of tiny house starter homes that enabled 17th century Puritans to establish Naumkeag and Salem footholds. President Lincoln’s birthplace log cabin in Kentucky and the classic sod-roofed house of Nebraska and the Great Plains represent later “starter home” tiny houses built across America as the frontier---and settlement--moved west.

One of the first tiny houses built specifically to demonstrate the virtues of small scale and simplicity—was Thoreau’s classic cabin near Walden Pond, built 23 miles southwest of Salem in Concord, MA. This 1845 house has been reconstructed. It measures just 10 x 15 feet in plan (similar in scale to Salem’s English wigwams), and like them has a fireplace and chimney at one end. It also has a small root cellar and a storage attic.

Between the 1840s and 1890s, American homes tended to get much larger for show, and more elements were introduced for decorative effect. Many houses in Salem of the Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles illustrate how things changed and got more complex.

By 1900, a reactive movement favoring tinier houses and simpler styles promoted rustic cabins, as well as small bungalows, and carefully constructed small houses of the “Craftsman” or Mission and Arts & Crafts styles. In Salem, some fine examples of these modest house types can be seen in the extreme south end of Salem along Loring Avenue between Vinnen Square and the Forest River.

Sears mail order houses of the early 20th century represent another important advance in small and tiny house construction and living. Salem has at least one excellent example of a mail order house at 175 Loring Avenue. Small and compact house types, as well as houseboats, became increasingly practical and popular in the U.S. during the 1930s and the Great Depression.

Many tiny cottages, yurts, cabins, and even houses-on-wheels (gypsy wagons) were developed across America by back-to-the landers, artists, and counter-culturalists in the 1960s and 1970s. Mother Earth News, started in 1970, became an early promoter of eco-living, homesteading and tiny houses. Domes and zomes were also popularized by Buckminster Fuller and Steve Baer.

By the 1980s, Artists’s Row was established in downtown Salem. A cluster of tiny house forms lines the southern approach to Old Town Hall, making the historic landmark seem larger, while also accommodating art displays and The Lobster Shanty restaurant.

By the 1990s---new books published to promote tiny houses included architect Lester Walker’s Tiny, Tiny Houses or How to Get Away from it All (1987) and The Tiny Book of Tiny Houses.

Other books that have recently popularized tiny houses include Jay Shafer’s The Small House Book (2008) , Lloyd Kahn’s Tiny Homes Simple Shelter: Scaling Back in the 21st Century,(2012) and Michael Janzen’s Tiny House Floor Plans: Over 200 Interior Designs for Tiny Houses (2012). In 2002, the Small House Society was also founded by Shafer and Shay Salomon, with a few others.

An especially innovative practicing tiny house designer, inspired by Walker, is Derek (Deek) Diedricksen of Stoughton, MA. He published Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats, Funky Forts: And Whatever the Heck Else We Could Squeeze in Here in 2009. Also publishing in 2009 was Salomon, author of Little House on a Small Planet: Simple Homes, Cozy Retreats, and Energy Efficient Possibilities.

Keep your eyes open to appreciate pioneering small and tiny houses here in Salem and Massachusetts. Look also for future articles to shine additional light on these subjects.